Stocks break two-week losing spell

Babul Barman | Published: April 29, 2017 00:00:00 | Updated: April 28, 2017 21:45:31

Stocks edged up last week that ended Thursday, snapping a two-week losing spell, as some optimistic investors went on buying spree on sector specific large-cap issues.
Analysts said the market rebounded as investors showed their buying appetite, especially on bank, telecommunication and pharmaceuticals stocks in the last three days of the week.
According, the banking sector was the highest gainer, rising 1.90 per cent, followed telecommunication 0.76 per cent and pharmaceuticals 0.28 per cent, which helped the index closed positive.
"After a disappointing start of the week, the market made a comeback from Tuesday, as prices cooling off a bit over last two weeks correction, over turnaround expectations," said an analyst at a leading brokerage firm.
He noted that corporate declarations continued to stimulate investors to take sector and scrip-wise moves.
The week featured five trading sessions as usual. Of them, first two sessions witnessed 86 points correction while last three gained nearly 99 points.
Week-on-week, DSEX, the prime index of the Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE), went up by 12.76 points or 0.23 per cent to settle the week at 5,534.42 points.
Sheltech Brokerage, a stockbroker, said, "Post-correction buying opportunities brought back investors' confidence to the market, resulting in an index recovery".
The DSE Shariah Index advanced 1.70 points or 0.13 per cent to close at 1,273.94. However, the DS30 index, comprising blue chips, remained in the red, losing 15.72 points or 0.77 per cent to finish at 2,034.72.
The port city bourse, Chittagong Stock Exchange (CSE), also edged higher with its Selective Categories Index, CSCX, advancing 39 points or 0.37 per cent to close at 10,407.
The total turnover for the week came down to Tk 28.83 billion against Tk 34.32 billion the week before with block trade contributed 1.0 per cent to the total weekly turnover.
The daily turnover averaged at Tk 5.76 billion, which was 16 per cent lower than the previous week's average of Tk 6.86 billion.
The bank sector kept its dominance in turnover chart for the fifth straight week, capturing 17 per cent of the week's total turnover value, closely followed by non-bank financial institutions 16 per cent and textile 14 per cent.
"The market bounced back to the green from its bearish trend as the enthusiastic investors were active on sectors-specific large-cap stocks," commented International Leasing Securities, a stockbroker, in its weekly analysis.
The stockbroker noted that the risk-averse investors bagged some quick-gain in the week where the bargain hunters rebalanced their portfolio ahead of quarterly earnings disclosures.
"The proposal of the securities' regulator and the merchant bankers to review the calculation of banks' exposure to facilitate higher institutional investment in stock market also prompted the investors to remain active in the last three sessions of the week," said the stockbroker.
There are 16 listed companies, including three banks and one multinational company, recommended dividend last week for the year ended on December 31, 2016.
Most of the traded issues price closed in the red. Out of 333 issues traded, 172 closed lower, 130 closed higher and 28 remained unchanged on the DSE trading floor.
The total market capitalisation of the DSE also advanced 0.04 per cent last week as it was Tk 3,736 billion on the opening day of the week, while it came down to Tk 3,737 billion on closing day of the week.
LankaBangla Finance dominated the week's turnover chart for the fourth straight week with about 38.61 million shares of Tk 2.02 billion changing hands, followed by United Power of Tk 1.06 billion, Prime Bank Tk 828 million, Beximco Tk 690 million and Ratanpur Steel Re-rolling Mills Tk 661 million.
Prime Insurance Company was the week's biggest gainer, posting a 29 per cent rise, while FAS Finance and Investment was the worst loser, slumping by 11.18 per cent.
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